


Happy Endings

by Chauntlucet



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Matilda - Roald Dahl
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-01
Updated: 2020-02-01
Packaged: 2021-02-27 22:07:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,032
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22503010
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chauntlucet/pseuds/Chauntlucet
Summary: Hogwarts, for many, is more than a school, it is a home. But what if you've already found your home?
Relationships: Hermione Granger & Matilda Wormwood
Comments: 10
Kudos: 30
Collections: X-Ship - The Crossover Relationship Exchange 2019





	Happy Endings

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ANGSWIN](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ANGSWIN/gifts).



> Oh boy! Matilda and Harry Potter, this is just...*so much* my childhood and I'm just super grateful for the opportunity to write it! This is my first time really writing either Hermione or Matilda, and I really just hope I've done them justice, but you know, the idea of the two of them together? Being their awesome book-nerdy selves? It's such a great concept and I *had* to write it. Sooo, yeah...Hope you enjoy! ^^

It would always be one of the things Hermione remembered most vividly. That knock at the door of her family’s home, and the older woman standing just outside. She’d been tall and stern -- she rather _looked_ the perfect image of a teacher -- her hair up on her head in a tight bun, and a pair of square spectacles resting on her nose. The woman who Hermione would soon come to know as Professor Mcgonagall was dressed…normally, yes...yet it seemed somehow ill-suited to her. Hermione would soon find out why. 

She could still remember those words --They’d felt so bright and brilliant then, as she read them, as though they were picked out in fire -- and reading them silently to herself, over and over as Professor Mcgonagall went on, explaining everything to her parents. “ _Dear Miss Granger, We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry…”_

Those words had changed her life, and now, as she stood upon the doorstep of the home of some other young Muggle-Born girl about to have her own life changed, Hermione hoped she could live up to that.

Matilda already had so many memories that she would never forget, and many now that she never wanted to. From the first time she’d picked up a book in the library, to that first day of school in Miss Honey’s class, from practicing and mastering her powers to the very day she was adopted. And from that day, when Miss Honey had adopted her, things had been good. Matilda hadn’t used her powers --well, not _much--_ since then, she hadn’t _needed to._ So when she and Miss Honey had gone to answer the door, to find the young woman standing there with a letter in hand, with words written on it that were meant to change her entire world.

Only, she’d had her world changed now already, and she was quite happy now, with it the way it was.

Hermione had asked Matilda and her mother to sit down. The news, that you, or your child was a witch with untold potential for magical power? It was a lot to take in, after all. Hermione hadn’t expected that _she_ would be the one who needed to take a seat.

“You don’t...you don’t _want_ to go?” Hermione repeated, her head canting to the side as she blinked at the girl. 

“If it is all the same, one way or the other miss,” Matilda began, “Not really, no.”

What could Hermione be but stunned? What kind of a child _wouldn’t_ want to go to a school to learn magic, _real magic_ ? A place full of new stories and histories, an entire library’s worth, just waiting to be explored and _read…._

She’d noticed the books, of course she had, as she’d come in, how couldn’t she? Even when she’d answered the door, Matilda had been holding one, tucked beneath her arm, a finger holding her place for her. She was still holding the book like that even now. 

And hadn’t Hermione been doing the same, when that knock at the door came? When she’d first gotten her letter? Hadn’t she been buried nose-deep in a book only moments before?

She just didn’t understand it, and so the words came out:

_“Why not?”_ Hermione paused as she thought better of herself and corrected, “That is to say, is there any _reason_ why you wouldn’t want to go to Hogwarts? It’s understandable, if you are afraid of becoming homesick, or…”

“Oh, no, it’s not that.” Matilda said. There was another pause as the girl seemed to think, before continuing, “I mean, I’m not _afraid_ of going away. Only, I‘m going to be graduating from the upper school here this year--”

Despite herself, Hermoine’s brows went up at this,

“-- and I’d really rather finish my schooling here out, first, if I can.” What Matilda didn’t say was that she _had_ a school and it was a _wonderful_ place. That she had a home, and she was happy there. That if she left it-- and she was wise enough to know this -- _she_ couldn’t really come back to it. That if she did, that the time away, that magic, that learning and experience would start to change her and it wouldn’t be _quite_ her, she wouldn’t be _quite_ the same. 

And she knew that time would have to come eventually, of course. She only expected that she would get to finish growing up first.

Miss Honey sat beside Matilda on the sofa, and she reached over now, giving her leg a gentle squeeze, as if in reassurance. “This is _such_ an opportunity for you, and there would be so much for you to learn. Are your sure…?”

Matilda turned, giving Miss Honey a small smile. “There is still so much _here_ for me to learn still!” She replied, “I’ve only just started on _The lais of Marie de France!”_

And in that moment, that passed between the two, Hermoione could see, perhaps, the beginnings of why it was Matilda truly wanted to stay. That look on her face almost reminded her of the expression she’d seen on Harry when he was among the Weasleys, or sitting in the Great Hall during Hogwarts’s Opening Ceremony every year.

She couldn’t take anyone from that.

Still, she had a job to do, a duty she had come here for, and so, more out of formality than anything else Hermone said, “If you change your mind, Hogwarts will have a place for you.” After another moments thought she added, “You know, you will need someone to teach you to control your magic…” 

Matilda’s gaze turned, snapping back up to Hermione’s eyes at those words. “Oh that?” with a wave of her free hand she lifted the chair Hermione sat in up off of the ground, before setting it back down on the ground again. “I’ve learned to do that a long time ago. Although...I never said I _don’t_ want to learn more…”

Despite herself, Hermione couldn't help but smile. “Perhaps a private tutor then? I believe I might know a witch who would be willing to offer…”

  
  



End file.
